by - Donald Trump on Wednesday posted a video of Ron DeSantis introducing voice cloning AI.
- The ironic parody shows DeSantis and Elon Musk talking to the devil and Adolf Hitler.
- It is the latest sign, and perhaps the most prominent yet, that AI is being used as a political weapon.
The 2024 Trump-DeSantis showdown officially kicked off on Wednesday night, and artificial intelligence is right in the middle of the political fray.
About a dozen posts in his Truth Social speech criticizing Governor Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign launch, former President Donald Trump reposted a video of a conversation that clearly deploys voice-cloning AI.
It’s not the first time Trump has posted AI-generated content. But the two-minute clip, uploaded to a private Rumble account, is the latest — and perhaps most prominent yet — sign of AI infiltrating the political sphere as a tool to guide narratives or attack opponents.
The video is a parody of DeSantis’ flawed Twitter Spaces release.
Both the governor of Florida and Elon Musk appear, alongside a sampling of his dislikes list – billionaire George Soros, World Economic Forum President Klaus Schwab and former Vice President Dick Cheney. The parody is evident from the start, with the inclusion of characters like Adolf Hitler, the devil and the FBI.
“Hi everyone, welcome to our Ron DeSantis Twitter Spaces,” Musk’s voice says in the clip.
“Hello? Is my microphone working properly?” Soros’s voice interrupts.
What follows is a chaotic mix of old audio, new voice lines spoken by an unknown person, and AI-generated dialogue that sounds eerily like the people being mimicked.
—Andrew Torba (@BasedTorba) May 25, 2023
“Everyone shut up so I can make my announcement, okay?” says the voice of DeSantis.
“Would you please shut up? I’m running for fucking president, okay?” his voice adds later.
“Yeah, we kind of already knew,” they all respond.
Musk’s AI-cloned voice even mimics his speech patterns.
“Uh, uh, FBI people, this is not a private call, this is a public Twitter Space, everyone can hear it,” the voice says at one point.
At the end of the clip, Trump’s voice intervenes.
“Hold your horses, Elon! The real president is going to say a few words. Devil, I’m going to kick your ass very soon. Hitler, you’re already dead. Dick Cheney, looks like you’re going to join Hitler very soon,” he said. the voice.
“Klaus Schwab and George Soros, I’m putting both of your asses in jail. And Ron DeSanctimonious can kiss my big beautiful ass Presidential 2024. Trump 2024 baby, come on,” Trump’s voice continues.
The clip is reminiscent of AI-generated “game presidents” memes, which use the voices of Trump, President Joe Biden, and former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton trash-talking each other about ” Call of Duty, ” “Overwatch” and “Fortnite”.
Joe Rogan and Musk sometimes appear in these memes as well.
But Trump’s newly reposted Twitter Spaces parody comes as politicians around the world are slowly starting to use AI to serve their ends. The Republican National Committee released an ad attacking Biden in April using AI-generated imagery.
New Zealand’s centre-right National Party has also posted AI-generated images on Instagram, from a photo of two nurses to a bizarre version of a Fast & Furious poster.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon said his party was using AI to make “some pictures” for social media, according to The New Zealand Herald.
Trump himself shared a clip on May 11 that used voice cloning AI. It features CNN anchor Anderson Cooper saying the former president was “ripping us a new asshole here at Presidential City Hall live on CNN.”
The avid global attention to generative AI has raised concerns from cybersecurity and technology experts about its ability to distort the truth and mislead voters when used for political gain.
The DeSantis parody of Trump is openly ironic and clearly a joke, but fake images and videos can have immediate consequences if believed. On Monday, a fake photo of the Pentagon explosion – suspected to have been at least partially generated by AI – sent the stock market into a tailspin.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to an Insider request for comment sent outside of business hours.
